Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	authority_n	church_n	holy_a	3,363	5	4.8968	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27169	A discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer side, notwithstanding the uncharitable judgment of their adversaries and that their religion is the surest way to heaven.	Beaulieu, Luke, 1644 or 5-1723.	1687 (1687)	Wing B1572; ESTC R20774	24,111	46

Noise of Damnation dashing against them and therefore I will pursue things no further than to shew That neither the Judgment of our Adversaries nor any thing wherein both Churches disagree any ways endangers our future Happiness But that as to the securing the eternal Welfare of our immortal Souls ours is to be preferred before the Roman Communion A DISCOURSE shewing c. THE Concerns of Eternity being so tremendous and many not so well instructed as they should 't is no wonder if some Men are frighted with the fearful Sentence pronounced against them by the Zealots of the Roman Party To any Man serious or timorous Threats of Damnation are terrible even in the Mouth of a Mortal Creature Though it only betrays the Presumption of any sinful Man that dares sit on the Tribunal of his Almighty Judg yet because some are so tender and so weak in this Point as to be much disordered and dismayed to see themselves adjudged to Hell though it were but a Dream or a melancholy Fancy therefore it may be worth the while briefly to state the Case and consider on what Grounds they proceed that so freely pronounce our Doom And I doubt not but to make it appear that we want only their good Word or also their good Will when for Safety and a sure Foundation we are at least as well as they It may surprize and startle to see one stare and with great Confidence denounce that you are a dead Man that cannot live an Hour but having recovered your self and reflected upon 't you pass by without further Harm and smile at the Humour There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Who art thou that judgest another Our intire dependence is upon God as well for the state of Eternity as for the present We do not fall when we go hence under a new or an unknown Power neither are left to Mens Mercy but the same God by whom we were taken out of our Mother's Womb and to whom we were left when we hang'd yet upon her Breasts he that took care of us and provided for us here upon Earth is still to dispose of us in our future State And we shall be judged by him by whom we were made and redeemed This God whom we now serve and under whose Almighty Dominion we must ever remain is infinitely good He would have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth Therefore he doth not seek Advantages against them nor lay Snares in their Way nor wrap up his Saving Light in Obscurity but deals with them in much Mercy making that Grace of his which bringeth Salvation appear unto all Men that they may know the Way to Life and clearly see what they must do to obtain Eternal Happiness This God shews Men by that Revelation he hath made of his blessed Will how they ought to walk and to please him Therein all things necessary are very plainly exprest that they may be understood of all And for a further Help and a greater Security to Men of all Capacities a Summary of Divine Truths such as are fundamental and needful was by times made and propagated together with the Christian Religion over all the World So that we have the Word of God and the Apostolick Creed both of them always attested by the whole Christian Church as two firm Pillars whereon to repose our selves That we might be strong and immoveable in the Faith assured that we are not imposed upon by our Guides and that length of Time hath made no Alteration but that we hold now the same things which were taught by Christ and received of his Church and that we make nothing necessary to Salvation which from the Beginning was not so First then The Word of God contained in the Holy Bible is by Consent of all that Saving Truth of God by which we must live and by which we shall be judged so that whatsoever is there written is to be embraced as certain and as coming from God Whether it relates to the Creation and the Government of the World or to the many Wonders which God wrought in former Ages to deliver his People and to confirm and attest his Revelation or to the Fall of Man and the Promise of a Saviour or to his Mission into the World and his accomplishing the great Work of our Redemption or to the Gospel-Promises and Doctrines and Mysteries or to Laws and Rules of Righteousness and Institutions of Divine Worship whatsoever it relates to it is to be embraced with an humble and obedient Faith Nothing is to be questioned that is contained in the Bible all humane Authorities and humane Reasonings must submit to it for the Bible is the Word of God Go into all the World and you shall find all Churches every where assert the same as well as we The Jews concur with us in the Divine Authority of the ancient Oracles before our blessed Lord's Coming But all Christians in every Part and in every Age of the Church embrace and reverence both the Old and New Testament as the Book of God wherein are contained the Declarations of his Will and the Words of eternal Life If you enquire what they thought of it in the first or second Ages after our Saviour or at any other time or if you go to the Eastern or African Churches or any the most remote Place where Christianity is profest you shall find all agreed in this that the Bible contains the Doctrine of eternal Salvation and is the Word of God This is not a thing wherein the Greeks differ from the Latins or Protestants from the Papists but is the firm Belief of all This is a most constant and invariable Tradition which for Extent of Time and Place is universal and therefore of the greatest Credit altogether unquestionable So here is a very great Number of Divine and undoubted Truths agreed upon by all the Christian World even all the plain and clear Propositions contained in Holy Scripture Although they be of things not seen that are past or to come yet being there revealed they are assented to by all And he that should deny any of them would be condemned by Christians of all Communions his refusing to acknowledg the Truth of any Contents of the Bible would be interpreted a Denial of God's Veracity because they are all perswaded that the Bible is the Word of God written by the Guidance and the Inspiration of his Holy Spirit He that rejects this Foundation on which all Christians are grounded ought never to concern himself in the Differences among them nor pretend to be of any Church for by his denying the Truth of that Revelation which they all own to be Divine and whereon they rely he makes himself an Infidel and a Party against them all And yet if we could see to the bottom of Things I doubt not but it would appear that the Disputes and Contentions which are among Christians

having read the Bible a Man can never think theirs to be that Worship in Spirit and in Truth which the Gospel appoints We dare not offer to Almighty God what is so like to be injurious to him and so unlike his own Institutions and have much greater Assurance to have our Sacrifice of Prayers and Praises accepted when according to Divine Appointment we offer it to God in the Name of his blessed Son The same holds also for vertuous living and Improvement in Goodness that their new Doctrines are rather Obstacles to than Helps towards it The great dependence upon Rome and the Papal Power hath made many of that Communion very ill Subjects and many more very cruel and uncharitable to all other Christians The making a whole State of Sin although known and persisted in yet to be a State of Pardon and Safety consistent with the Love of God the buying and Imputation of other Mens Merits and good Works the easy Purchase of many Indulgences the customary and frequent Absolutions for mortal Sins the Patronage of the greatest Saints to the greatest Sinners when they are their particular Votaries such prevailing Opinions as these abate much of the Necessity of a serious and speedy Repentance and earnest Pursuits after Sanctification and too much gratify the Corruptions of Men that are desirous to enjoy their Lusts and not lose the Hopes of Heaven So if Mixture of false and uncertain Propositions with their Faith if a Worship very corrupt and very superstitious and if Doctrines apt to betray Men to a careless and vicious Life if these can endanger humane Souls we cannot think them safe in the Church of Rome So far as they differ from us in their Additions to the Primitive Faith so far they are in danger We pronounce no Sentence and we pray Divine Mercy to pardon them that err in the Simplicity of their Heart But their Errors and suitable Practices may be the Ruine of many and our Charity can save none Blessed be God we are safer and have many Advantages for Comfort and for Holiness of which they are destitute Men of a timorous and a tender Conscience amongst them can never have a comfortable Knowledg and Assurance of their having confest all their Mortal Sins or all those Circumstances that alter the kind nor of the Intention of the Priest which is necessary to make effectual his Absolutions nor of the Validity of any Sacerdotal Ministrations and Consecrations all which depend upon sceret Intentions or Irregularities which may be incurr'd many ways and may proceed so far as to be irremediable of these which according to their Principles so much concerns their Happiness a thoughtful Man I say can never be so sure as to make him rejoyce in Hope and have a solid Peace And what a sad Prospect is it to them that think the Sufferings of this present Life so very grievous that after all their Pains and Charges to gain Pardons and Indulgences and Prayers for their Souls they can have no Assurance without a Miracle but that they shall lie hundred of Years in scorching Flames paying the Score of those temporal Punishments which were due to their Sins Besides the Uncomfortableness of these Roman Tenents they want in that Communion the Benefit of those Divine Instructions which were written for our Learning that we through Comfort of the Scriptures might have Hope That holy Word of God which giveth Light and Understanding to the Simple and is able to make us wise unto Salvation and to save our Souls if we believe the Blessed Author of it That Word in the Church of Rome is kept from the People lest it should make the Ways of God plain before their Faces and shew them what a mighty Change in the Christian Religion hath been made amongst them And that keeps the Vulgar in a State of Darkness and timorous Superstition and deprives them of those Spiritual Joys and Improvements which Divine Revelation would afford If any Book in the World can be truly pleasant and comfortable it is the Holy Bible wherein we see the infinite Wisdom and Power and Providence of God in the Creation and Government of the World and particularly in his Care for them that love and serve him The sacred History is so full of Comfort in all Changes of Humane Life the infinite Goodness and other Perfections of God are so clearly revealed in it that by reading thereof an attentive Christian in all his Afflictions is inspir'd with wise and good Thoughts and Courage and Firmness of Mind and a joyful dependence upon God Then the Mercies and Mysteries of our Redemption the Life and Death of our Blessed Saviour the Excellency of his Precepts and of the Sermons and Writings of his Apostles and the infinite Graciousness of his Promises These are so ravishing and so wonderful so apt to support our Spirits and to nourish our Hopes to give a good Man a fore-Taste of the Joys of Heaven and to bring us to the Likeness and the Sense of God's Love that nothing can give equal Comforts to Christians or any ways supply the Want of these It would be the greatest Wonder why any Church that believes the Old and New Testament to be the Book of God should forbid the reading of it but that the Contrariety betwixt their Traditions and those Divine Writings is very apparent to them that can consult and compare both That or nothing must excuse their Uncharitableness in taking the Divine Oracles from them for whose Consolation and Guidance they were appointed Again they want the Comfort and Instruction of God's publick Worship What Scriptures are read in the publick Assemblies of the Roman Communion are in the Latin Tongue by which the Understanding of the People is rendred unfruitful What Prayers and Supplications are put up to God are in the same Language they know not what is said and therefore cannot assent with their Hearts nor excite such devout Affections in their Souls as would recommend their common Requests to the Throne of Grace Neither are the Celebrations of the Divine Goodness understood they praise not God with joyful Lips And that pious Entercourse they should have with him in paying their Homage and presenting their Thanks and Petitions to his Divine Majesty being thus interrupted by their not understanding what is said they are deprived of one of the principal Means of Edification 'T is strange it should ever enter into the Hearts of Men to offer to God for a reasonable Service Words of which they know not the Signification And it renders ineffectual those Acts of Religion which should most affect and better the Hearts of Christian Worshippers and raise up their Thoughts and their Affections to Heaven From hence it is that we have more knowledg of God and more Understanding of the Christian Religion They amongst us that really believe Christianity and would make sure of the Happiness it offers by searching and meditating of the Holy Scriptures and